Interesting book, not quite what I was expecting. I am definitely not ready to read pandemic books yet. I enjoyed the prophecy/academia stuff much more than the COVID turn the book took at the end. Will check out Pollard's next books, but this one wasn't really for me.

Clare Pollard’s “Delphi" showcases her versatility as a writer.

It’s 2020, the first year of the pandemic, and Pollard creates a relatable and intimate atmosphere, allowing readers to find echoes of their own experiences within her novel.

I found ‘Delphi’ a humorous and thought-provoking read.

While the writing style itself was beautiful, the conceit of the novel (a chapter each dedicated to different ways of telling prophecies) grew very old to me. Additionally, I felt the characters were not as fleshed out and I couldn't get into the book.

Okay, I really thought this was clever, and I enjoyed all the titles so much. For the first 10%, I really enjoyed it. But it started to peter out for me. Even as the action ramped up, the mundane annoyance of existing in a pandemic is both too close for comfort right now and feels a little tepid to me. I'm not sure how else to say it — I lost interest. I enjoyed Pollard's writing in the first half, though, and I look forward to seeing what else she writes.

In Feb. 2022, The New York Times said that novelists writing of the global Covid pandemic will have "the awkward narrative problem of how to turn what some have termed the 'boring apocalypse' — a period of stasis that, for the most fortunate, has been defined by staying home and doing nothing — into a gripping story."

The New York Times is wrong. DELPHI is gripping as hell.

This book was not quite what I expected, but I really ended up enjoying it. I've been reading a lot of pandemic books during our Covid-19 pandemic because there is something rather cozy catastrophe about that experience. I expected more mythological and classical references here based on the book description, but they are really only used for the chapter setup, and then what follows is an account of the pandemic experience in London for individuals and families. It's a fascinating read, and it's good to return to those frantic pandemic days and weeks now that vaccines are available, and we are on the other side of that experience. I'm going to look for more from this author-she has a strong writing voice.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4914469896

A lockdown novel set during the COVID-19 pandemic; honestly it seemed pointless to me. The characters seemed vapid and boring, with a bit of Greek myth and practices thrown in. Only my opinion.

Delphi is a short book written in the perspective of a Classics professor in England during the 2020 pandemic. It's written in vignettes, each labeled as a different type of prophecy by tarot, dreams birth date, etc. as she describes her life and what's going on. It's a very literary book and starts off a little slow, but it pulled me in and I was curious to see what would happen in her life. Clare Pollard captures the mundanity of lockdown, absurdity, and overall sense of dread and aimlessness many of us felt.

Thank you Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars. This book was sharp & well written but almost maybe too soon to read about our shared lived experience that was the first year of COVID lockdown. The book reads like a frazzled stream of consciousness that feels very familiar to that collective anxiety, grief, and discomfort we all felt during the early days of the pandemic. There was some interesting intertwining of Greek mythology in here but I was hoping for more.

Had to abandon his book abruptly as for some reason my eARC had pages missing.I thought maybe its just one page but soon it was frequent and in succession.
I was very intrigued by its premise and was invested but sadly the glitch seem to ruin it for me,

Auramancy: Prophecy by Aura.
Lampadomancy: Prophecy by Flame
Moromancy: Prophecy by Foolishness
Oinomancy: Prophecy by Wine

These are chapter titles in Clare Pollard’s novel Delphi, a morose treatise on one woman’s 2020 quarantine lockdown. It’s basically what my old Mema would call navel-gazing. I did like to try to find the connection between a chapter’s content and the interesting chapter titles. Most of it was pretty obvious.

I loved this book so much! Delphi tells of a professor managing day to day live and her increasing anxiety about the future in a story that interweaves mythology with the mundane of ordinary life in the first year of the pandemic. I will review it in depth on my YouTube channel later today!

Delphi by Clare Pollard follows a Classics professor investigating the relationship between modern technology and ancient prophecy, as well as her own marriage, in pandemic-era London. Written in succinct chapters, the story unfolds at a dizzying pace. Our unnamed narrator provides insight into hot issues such as data gathering by social media companies, climate change, and personal responsibility during the pandemic. The breadth of topics covered by this book is ambitious, and while it falls a bit short in providing a cohesive voice in this discussion, it certainly sparks interesting thoughts for the reader.

This was such a me book. With the mythology, the autofiction vibes, and the really good writing, it was a book that I really enjoyed. Even though it was written in a fragmentary style which usually isn’t something I enjoy, reading this might have swayed me into reading more books like this. A very 2020-2021 book, normally I’m skeptical of, but this was done so well. The ending is the only thing that threw me a bit, and I’m still not sure about. But other than that, amazing! Obsessed!

Thank you to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for sending me an advanced copy

In Delphi, we follow a middle aged classics professor in London who, in the midst of a COVID lockdown, searches for a ways to deal with feelings of anxiety, depression, and powerlessness. Pollard explores sixty-five different types of ancient prophecies (who knew there were so many?) and mingles them with the reality of the unpredictability of life during a pandemic. The short chapters helped move the story forward without becoming maudlin but also precluded the deep dive into feelings I would have liked to have seen.

A compelling account of fear, doubt, loss and being lost in fragmentary sections that mix philosophical musings, essayistic analysis of ancient mythology, poetic prose and literary criticism. The parallels to Jenny Offill and Olivia Laing that are being used to blurb the book are absolutely appropriate; I would also add Anne Carson and Maggie Nelson, for this book’s comfortable mixing of historical research, poetry and prose. The plot — set in pandemic lockdown — was the least interesting aspect of the book for me, but it made a good setting for the psychological meat of the novel. I have already recommended this book.

I don't know how to feel about this one. The cover really intrigued me and as a classics student myself I sometimes even felt connected with the main character. The parallels to the ancient world were very well done and I think I enjoyed those the most. I think what threw me off was that this story retold many of the situations we experienced through the pandemic and in the end, it got a little bit repetitive for me. Nice premise but could've been executed a little bit better.

This was one of my most anticipated reads this year, I mean that cover! Loved the eerie feeling that permeated this one. Not super memorable, but overall a solid read! 3 stars

Delphi by Clare Pollard

This is a novel written by a poet in beautiful, lyrical, stream of consciousness style. I felt that I was inside the head of the protagonist: a university professor studying the many forms of prophecy and trying to survive the global pandemic. She has a young son with life-threatening allergies and a husband who sparks feelings in her mainly of annoyed disinterest. The chapters are each named for a style of prophecy, from the well-known (Astrology: Prophecy by Celestial Bodies) to the outrageous-sounding (Batrachomancy: Prophecy by Frogs), each tied into the chapter in strange and nuanced ways. This is a book that you read for its style of prose, not for character or plot. It’s not a book you read if you don’t want to think about the pandemic, as it is completely centered around the uncertainties the pandemic wrought on all of us.

The publisher’s comparison of Pollard’s novel to the work of Jenny Offill is incredibly apt, especially when considering Offill’s Weather. Both beautiful and moving, frightening and eye opening. They both take huge external forces, climate change in Weather and the COVID-19 pandemic in Delphi, and filter them through the lens of one mother. Pollard’s writing allows the reader to feel everything that the character feels: from guilt to apathy to hopelessness to love. I read through it quickly, aided by the short chapters, and have the distinct feeling that I might feel like I’m reading a totally different book if I pick it up again in a few months or years. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more novels by Pollard in future.

This book left me with a lot of thoughts...

It feels like a journal. The journal of a woman who researches fortune telling ways and mythology, who has a bit of trouble finding meaning and fulfillment in her everyday life. Then pandemic happens and day by day things start to get worse and with each day her research and her involvement with fortune telling modes increases. But it's not as worse as you might think. Haven't we all dabbled into a little tarot reading this pandemic?!

It was strange reading about so many pandemic moments I, too, have lived similarly. It's the first year's timeline, moments so many of us have experienced. It is still fresh, it is still not over, it is still covered in a mist of confusion and recovery.

This book was very nicely written and intriguingly structured, with mythology details intertwining with the main character's life. These were the details I wanted to read in the book and it surely delivered. I liked how all the story came full circle in the end. It was an interesting read and it will surely be, over time, a testament, for how 2020 was lived and the challenges it brought.

I received a copy of this in order to offer my personal view on it.